UCLA students memorialize 1969 Black Panther slayings
The site of a fatal shooting of two UCLA students in 1969 has never been marked. History students obtained plaques in the victims' honor, one of which will be posted in the Campbell Hall classroom.
 Ericka Huggins holds up a plaque dedicated to her late husband, John J. Huggins Jr., one of two Black Panther members killed in a UCLA classroom in 1969. (Gary Friedman, Los Angeles Times / May 26, 2010) |
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A UCLA history class studying the 1960s was stunned to learn recently that a violent incident in the black power movement had occurred on the Westwood campus and that there was nothing to mark it.
So they and their instructor set out to memorialize two UCLA students, both Black Panther Partymembers, who were shot to death in Campbell Hall on Jan. 17, 1969, in an alleged dispute over leadership in a fledgling black studies program.
On Tuesday, two plaques honoring Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter and John J. Huggins Jr. as social justice advocates were unveiled in a Campbell Hall ceremony attended by relatives of the slain men, among others.
The deaths continue to generate debate about Black Panther power struggles and the motives of those involved. The alleged gunman, Claude "Chuchessa" Hubert, was never apprehended. Two brothers, George and Larry Stiner, were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and second-degree murder for their involvement; both received life sentences. They escaped from prison in 1974. Larry Stiner lived as a fugitive in Suriname for 20 years and then surrendered. His brother remains a fugitive.
